To mark the launch of Trans+ History Week, Uncharted and creatives from the trans+ community have created a new campaign that celebrates Trans+ stories.

Trans+ History Week is a new week-long calendar moment, which is designed to celebrate the momentous achievements and illustrious history of transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex people. With hate crimes against Trans+ people on the rise, the week serves as an important reminder of the importance of education and allyship.

The campaign celebrates the illustrious and rich Trans+ history to shine a light on the stories that make up the community. The campaign’s creative is made up of a series of powerful photographs of objects, people and moments that all contribute to Trans+ history.

Featuring a range of different images pulled together in a collage style to give the feel of a zine, the campaign will be visible throughout Trans+ History Week. It will run across major cities in the UK including Manchester, Liverpool, London and Newcastle. The campaign will feature prominently at Box Park Wembley and during a week-long takeover of Westfield South Terrace.

Media for the campaign has been contributed by Ocean, Open Media and Metro through Talon and Havas Media Network UK. The campaign was created by a team of trans+ volunteers and allies led by Smarty Pants Consultancy, founded by Marty Davies with stewardship from Uncharted Studio, founded by Laura Jordan Bambach. The team was also supported by the design team at Hogarth. Georgey Lee and Jamie June Hill acted as graphic designer and creative director. 

Alongside the images, the creative features the powerful message: Trans+ people have “always been here, and always will be.” Showcasing the impact that Trans+ people have had throughout history, the campaign underlines the positive impact and powerful history that has been buried by a sea of media hatred. Each also features a QR code that takes people to the official content created for the week.

The initiative strives to promote education. As part of the campaign a series of official content in the form of articles, podcasts and a lesson-based workbook, which has been created using academic research principles. The aim is to provide the public with a millennia-old history of Trans+ people and gender-diverse communities, dating as far back as Antiquity.

“Everyone is talking about Trans+ people, but few trans+ people are able to tell our own stories. That's what Trans+ History Week is here to do.” says Marty Davies (she/they), Founder of Trans+ History Week and Smarty Pants Consultancy.

She continues: “Like trans+ people, advertising is ubiquitous and can also be traced back to ancient times - in Papayrus created in 3000 BCE to be precise. That’s pretty cool. We’ve seen attacks on Trans+ people in ads over the past year as mis/dis information demonise our community. But trans+ people deserve to see themselves represented authentically in media, and that includes in our advertising. Advertising can and should be a powerful force for good.”

Trans+ History Week runs from 6th to 12th of May. A flagship community event on Tuesday 7th May sponsored by Clifford Chance and Verizon Business includes a live episode recording of the QueerAF podcast on the history-making TV representation featured in Sex Education. It will feature stars from the show and a panel discussion and Q&A on the future of Trans+ rights. Deloitte UK will also sponsor a Transcending Words Poetry Night at The Common Press Bookshop.